Pleasant read

Laughable. Auburn wasn't even in the discussion. I remember traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas the week before the Orange Bowl. There was a loudmouth Las Vegas wise guy holding court in the middle of the Stardust sportsbook. He loudly offered 100/1 odds to anybody willing to bet that the national champion wouldn't be Nebraska, Texas or Miami. He had no takers. Nobody was moronic enough.

Strength of schedule obsession is an invention of idiots. I've seen this type of rebranded national champion attempted on other boards, specifically on Rivals Soundoff. Young guys who are brainwashed by strength of schedule retreat decades before their birth and discover the true national champ. They actually can't believe anyone would challenge them on it. I've had a great deal of fun mocking them and picking apart their arguments.

Horse racing has dealt with this dilemma for centuries: Class (strength of schedule) or speed (time). Neither one has a monopoly. As soon as you think you've figured it out, the next race on the card produces the opposite result. This is coast to coast every day. Dozens of examples. The only reason the strength of schedule simpletons currently have any voice is that horse racing has severely declined among the sporting public. None of the guys making the back fit pronouncements have any background in racing. They can't imagine that who you played isn't the sole trump card variable toward how good you are. I can't count how many times I've take advantage of that foolishness in racing, beginning when I was a teenager. Every goof who relied solely on strength of schedule loudly asserted that Affirmed was clearly superior to Seattle Slew. After all, Affirmed vanquished Alydar in all three Triple Crown events while Slew was denounced as merely the best of a sorry crop, his primary rival the very underwhelming Run Dusty Run. Meanwhile, Seattle Slew was a freak. I saw it twice at Hialeah. I knew he was superior to Affirmed, regardless of who they had faced. The wrong horse was favored in the Marlboro Cup in September 1978, when Slew toyed with Affirmed, the first meeting between Triple Crown winners.

Horse racing may be a declining sport but its devotees have taken extraordinary steps to identify the most vital variables. The guys who were compiling crude speed figures three or four decades ago have now moved to trip handicapping, identifying specific aspects like how many feet each horse actually traveled in a race. It's hilarious that the football strength of schedule clowns are essentially 50 years in the rear, fixated on only one aspect. They can do that because there's no risk. They aren't speculating, they are proclaiming. Maiden proclaimers. Pathetic.

BTW, it's amusing that this argument surfaces three decades later. I already took advantage of it once, thank you very much. The same flawed rationale that produces this desperate push for Auburn was responsible for a 7 point line move in the Kickoff Classic in 1984. I was at Gary Austin's ill fated sportsbook when he opened the game between Miami and Auburn at pick-em. Within hours it busted past every normal barrier. The line eventually settled with Auburn as 7 point favorite. I took Miami plus the points and the very generous money line.